Attack
Director: Robert Aldrich
Year Released: 1956
Rating: 2.0
Pointed, obvious WWII movie about weak commander Cooney (Eddie Albert) and his cowardly refusal to provide adequate backup for his soldiers, helmed by rough-and-ready Costa (Jack Palance): when Cooney eventually escapes a battle in a town (after losing a lot of his men) and doesn't receive the assistance he calls in, he goes looking to kill Costa. I failed to find the Brave vs. Cowardly dynamic with Palance and Albert's characters (respectively) to be all that compelling (when Albert's character is weeping on his bed it's a roll-your-eyes moment) and showing military leaders as being medal-and-promotion crazy doesn't strike me as being revelatory. The battle scenes are fine if undistinguished (since the 'tension' between the one-note characters is the main selling point) and arguably the most remarkable thing in this is turning an actual decorated war hero (Eddie Albert) into the direct opposite of his real-life persona.
